| Course | GHA 548 Foundations of Gerontology for Health Administrators (GHA/548) |
|---|---|
| Week | 6 |
| Paper type | Gerontology signature paper |
| Length | about 1,188 words, 4 double-spaced pages plus title page and references |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | University of Phoenix |
| Program | MHA |
| Updated | September 2026 |
Free sample paper for GHA 548 Week 6
A Three-Year Plan to Make a Four-Hospital System Age-Friendly: Applying Demography, Theory, the Continuum of Care and Community Partnership to One Organization
[Student Name]
University of Phoenix
GHA/548: Foundations of Gerontology for Health Administrators
Week 6 Assignment
[Instructor Name]
[Date]
The health system, its data, budget and plan are composites written for a model paper; demographic projections and research findings come from the sources listed.
The board of the composite regional system, whose hospitals, clinics and home health agency serve a fast-aging area, asked its director of senior services for a three-year plan. The reason was plain in the system's data: nearly half of all inpatient days now go to patients aged 65 or over, a group making up fewer than one resident in five, and that share keeps climbing. This paper brings together demographic change, perceptions of aging, theories of aging, the continuum of care and community resources in a plan to make the system age-friendly.
The Demographic Case
Census projections published in 2018 anticipated that Americans aged 65 and older would outnumber children in the 2030s and reach about 95 million by 2060, with the fastest growth among people 85 and older (Vespa et al., 2018). In the system's own area, the number of residents 85 and older is expected to grow by more than a third in ten years. These are the patients most likely to experience delirium, falls, medication harm and difficult discharges.
A Framework for the Plan
The plan is organized around four elements of age-friendly care: what matters to the older adult, medication, mentation and mobility (Fulmer et al., 2018). The framework was chosen because it is simple enough to teach every clinician, applies in every setting from the hospital to the clinic and home and can be measured.
Workstream One: What Matters
Every older patient will be asked what matters most to them, such as returning to gardening, attending a grandchild's wedding or avoiding another hospital stay, and the answer will be recorded where every clinician sees it. The theories studied earlier support this: continuity theory suggests people do best when care preserves their valued roles, and socioemotional selectivity theory suggests their priorities may center on close relationships rather than general activity. The myths uncovered in the staff survey show why the question must be asked, not assumed.
Workstream Two: Medication
Older adults are more vulnerable to medication harm. The plan adopts the 2023 update of the national criteria listing medications potentially inappropriate for older adults (American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel, 2023). Pharmacists will review medications for every patient 65 and older at admission and discharge, and the electronic record will alert prescribers to listed drugs. The medication error found in the hip fracture case, where an outdated list reached the home, will be addressed by a single reconciled list sent at every transition.
Workstream Three: Mentation
Mentation covers delirium, dementia and depression. The delirium prevention program will expand to all medical and surgical units; in the trial it copies, 9.9% of intervention patients developed delirium compared with 15.0% under usual care (Inouye et al., 1999). Primary care will screen for cognitive impairment and depression at annual wellness visits, and the system will partner with the local Alzheimer's organization for caregiver support after diagnosis.
Workstream Four: Mobility
Hospitalized older adults who stay in bed lose strength quickly. The plan will convert one medical unit in each of the two largest hospitals into an acute geriatric unit with early mobility, environmental modifications, patient-centered care and discharge planning from admission. A meta-analysis of such units linked them to roughly half the falls of usual care, along with lower delirium rates, better preserved function, slightly shorter stays, lower costs and fewer patients leaving for nursing homes (Fox et al., 2012). Walking a patient to the window on day one may do more for independence than any discharge plan written on day five.
Across the Continuum
Age-friendly care cannot stop at the hospital door. The plan adds transitional care nurses for high-risk older patients, follow-up appointments within seven days of discharge, a question at admission about anyone who depends on the patient for care and the four elements in home health and the system's two affiliated nursing facilities.
With the Community
The closed-loop referral partnership with the Area Agency on Aging will expand from one hospital to all four, with self-management and fall prevention programs offered at system sites and booster sessions added where evidence shows effects fade.
Countering Ageism
All staff will complete training built on the survey of beliefs about aging, patient materials will drop stereotyping language and older adults will join the senior services council to review plans.
Workforce for Age-Friendly Care
None of the workstreams will work without people trained to deliver them. The system employs five geriatricians, far too few to see every older patient, so the plan relies on spreading basic skills widely: every nurse and therapist will learn delirium screening and early mobility, every prescriber will receive feedback on use of listed medications and every scheduler and registration clerk will learn to communicate with patients who have hearing or memory loss. Geriatricians and geriatric nurse specialists will serve as consultants and teachers rather than trying to care for all older patients themselves. The plan also includes flexible scheduling and lifting equipment to keep experienced older nurses in the workforce.
Risks to the Plan
Three risks could slow the plan. Clinicians may see the four elements as another documentation task, so the record will build the questions into existing workflows rather than adding forms. Savings may arrive more slowly than costs, which is why the budget is phased. And staffing shortages could stall the acute geriatric units, so the first unit will open where nurse vacancies are lowest.
Budget
The three-year budget totals $2.4 million: $1.1 million for pharmacists, transitional care nurses and a program manager, $0.6 million for unit renovations and equipment for acute geriatric units, $0.3 million for training and technology changes, $0.2 million for the jointly funded community health workers and $0.2 million for evaluation. Expected savings from shorter stays, fewer falls and fewer readmissions under value-based contracts are estimated to offset most of the cost by year three.
Governance
A senior services council chaired by the chief nursing officer, including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, community partners and two older adult members, will oversee the plan and report to the board's quality committee each quarter.
Timeline
Year one: training, medication review and delirium program in two hospitals, and the first acute geriatric unit. Year two: extension to all hospitals and primary care, transitional care nurses and the second unit. Year three: home health, nursing facility partners and full community referral network.
Measures
Eight measures will be reported quarterly for patients 65 and older: documentation of what matters, use of listed medications, delirium incidence, falls with injury, functional decline at discharge, length of stay, 30-day readmissions and completed community referrals.
Conclusion
The foundations of gerontology come together in one practical question: will the system's care fit the people it most often serves? Demographic change makes the question urgent, research on myths and theories shapes how to ask it and the continuum of care and community show where the answers must reach. The four-element plan, supported by evidence and backed by a budget, governance and measures, gives the board a way to answer it over three years.
References
American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. (2023). American Geriatrics Society 2023 updated AGS Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 71(7), 2052-2081. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.18372
Fox, M. T., Persaud, M., Maimets, I., O'Brien, K., Brooks, D., Tregunno, D., & Schraa, E. (2012). Effectiveness of acute geriatric unit care using acute care for elders components: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 60(12), 2237-2245. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.12028
Fulmer, T., Mate, K. S., & Berman, A. (2018). The age-friendly health system imperative. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(1), 22-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.15076
Inouye, S. K., Bogardus, S. T., Jr., Charpentier, P. A., Leo-Summers, L., Acampora, D., Holford, T. R., & Cooney, L. M., Jr. (1999). A multicomponent intervention to prevent delirium in hospitalized older patients. New England Journal of Medicine, 340(9), 669-676. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM199903043400901
Vespa, J., Armstrong, D. M., & Medina, L. (2018). Demographic turning points for the United States: Population projections for 2020 to 2060 (Current Population Reports P25-1144). U.S. Census Bureau. https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/demo/p25-1144.pdf
What the GHA 548 Week 6 instructions ask
The GHA 548 signature assignment usually asks students to synthesize the course in a paper applying gerontology to health administration. Prompts commonly ask students to describe demographic changes and their implications, address perceptions and stereotypes of aging, apply theories of aging, trace how older adults move between care settings and community services and recommend how an organization should respond. Some versions specify an organization or let students choose their own, often the one where they work. Strong papers integrate course topics rather than summarizing each week, use current data and research, focus on a specific organization, propose a realistic plan with priorities, resources and governance and define measures of success.
How this GHA 548 Week 6 example is built
The paper opens with the board's request for a plan to serve a population in which residents 65 and older account for nearly half of hospital days. The demographic case draws on federal projections. Each of four elements of age-friendly care becomes a workstream. Medication review uses the 2023 criteria for drugs to avoid in older adults. Mentation builds on a delirium program that lowered the rate by about a third in its original trial. Mobility draws on a review in which acute geriatric units halved falls. What matters draws on theories of aging and the myths paper. Community partnership, a $2.4 million budget, a senior services council with older adult members, a three-year timeline and eight quarterly measures close the paper.
GHA 548 Week 6 grading rubric: where the points go
The signature assignment is generally graded on integration, evidence and feasibility. Instructors look for a synthesis of course concepts applied to one organization, current demographic data, a plan grounded in research, attention to stereotypes and the diversity of older adults, consideration of the full continuum of care and community and realistic resources, governance and timelines. Measures of success show the plan can be evaluated. Peer-reviewed research and federal data should support recommendations. Clear prose, logical order and APA style account for the rest. Papers that restate each week's topic in sequence without building a single plan tend to score lowest, as do plans with no budget or owner.
GHA 548 Week 6 help: mistakes to avoid
The most common problem in the GHA 548 signature assignment is summarizing each week instead of building one argument. Start with the organization and its problem, then use each course topic as evidence for a plan. Choose a framework to organize the plan, such as the four elements of age-friendly care. Support each recommendation with research. Show how the plan reflects theories of aging and avoids stereotypes. Cover transitions and community partners, not only the hospital. Add a budget, governance and timeline, even if estimated. Finally, define a handful of measures and say who will review them, how often and what would count as success at the end of the plan.
Related GHA 548 sample papers
Other GHA 548 week samples
- GHA 548 Week 1: The Field of Gerontology
- GHA 548 Week 2: Myths and Stereotypes of Aging
- GHA 548 Week 3: Theories of Aging
- GHA 548 Week 4: The Continuum of Care
- GHA 548 Week 5: Community Resources for Older Adults
More MHA sample papers
GHA 548 Week 6 questions, answered
What does GHA/548 Week 6 usually ask for?
Many sections ask for a signature assignment that synthesizes the course's gerontology foundations and applies them to a health organization, often as a plan with recommendations.
Where can I find a free GHA 548 Week 6 sample paper?
Anyone can read the full three-year age-friendly plan above at no charge; comments in the margin show where each course topic entered the plan. For a signature paper on your own organization, the first one is free.
What are the 4Ms of age-friendly care?
What matters to the older adult, medication, mentation and mobility, four elements a health system applies reliably to every older patient.
What are the Beers Criteria?
A list maintained by the American Geriatrics Society of medications that are potentially inappropriate for older adults, updated most recently in 2023.
Do acute geriatric units improve outcomes?
A meta-analysis found acute geriatric unit care associated with fewer falls, less delirium, less functional decline, shorter stays, lower costs and fewer discharges to nursing homes.
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